10 Smartphone Apps Every Doctor Needs
Increasingly we’re living in a mobile world. The Pew Research Center reported that 95% of Americans own a cellphone of some kind — compared to 35% in 2011. With that, the dependency on smartphones has increased. One-in-five American adults rely solely on their smartphone for internet and do not have a traditional home broadband service.
With this rise in dependence on our smartphones has also come a rise in smartphone apps. But of the 2 million apps in the Apple Store and 3.8 million in the Android Google Play Store, how can you be sure you’re downloading the right apps for what you need?
We’ve pulled together a list of the 10 smartphone apps that every doctor needs to help you narrow your search. We’ve included five medical apps, but also five non-medical apps focused on making your life easier. All apps are available for both iPhone and Android so regardless of your device, you can download whichever (or all!) apps that speak to you.
Let’s start with the five medical apps every doctor needs:
1. Figure 1: Achieve Clinical Mastery
Figure 1 allows physicians to view and share medical images with hundreds of thousands of other users. This visual database combined with a social networking platform is a great place for doctors looking for feedback on a case or to learn more about rare conditions.
By keeping the user base exclusively to healthcare professionals, doctors can be sure that they’re viewing content that is valuable to them. All photo sharing is HIPPA-compliant so doctors can get diagnostic advice from peers and share their own knowledge.
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
2. UpToDate: Evidence-Based Clinical Decision Support Resource
UpToDate collects evidence-based clinical information and stores it all in one convenient location so that doctors can find an answer to any clinical question they may have.
Over 30 research studies have been conducted showing that widespread usage of the app has been associated with improved patient care and hospital performance.
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
3. Epocrates: Point of Care Medical Applications
Epocrates is a drug referencing app that doctors can consult to help when prescribing drugs. Its extensive drug database allows you to search by generic name, brand name or a list of more specific conditions. For specific drugs, you can find treatment options and how the drug may interact with different diagnosis. There is also safety information for prescribing and how to follow-up after prescribing the drug for a patient.
The app also contains information on specific diseases including lab guides coding, clinical practice guidelines and alternative medications.
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
4. MDCalc: Medical Calculators, Equations, Algorithms and Scores
MDCalc provides over 350 clinical decision tools for doctors that are applicable to a range of specific patient care scenarios. These tools span over 35 specialty areas so that every doctor can find something relevant to their needs.
The content on MDCalc was written by doctors and other experts to help them learn how to use and apply the available tools. Specific “pearls/pitfalls” and “next steps” are available for each calculator to help make sure you are using it properly.
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
5. Medscape: Point-of-Care Decision Making
Medscape, while primarily a news site online, has a medical reference app that provides drug information and a disease reference tool, while also providing access to medical news.
One of the most well known functions is the Drug Interaction Checker, which allows up to 30 inputs and will check interactions between them.
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
Moving onto the non-medical apps, we’ve found apps that are focused on helping you in your busy day. Whether it’s for task tracking, meditation or even investing (passive income!) these apps don’t have to be medical-specific to make a difference in your life.
6. Todoist: To-Do List and Task Manager
Doctors are always constantly in “go mode” and it’s sometimes hard to keep track of all the things you need to do in a day. One minute you remember but when you actually have time to get to that task, you’ve forgotten what it was you needed to do.
Having a task manager app is a great way to keep a running list of everything so that you can easily reference it when needed. Building a habit of making sure to jot down a task when you think of it will make sure you have a running list and never forget to do something important!
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
7. Headspace: Meditation and Mindfulness
Doctors are always working and thinking about their patients and often have a hard time finding a minute for themselves. Using an app like Headspace which has tailored meditations and mindfulness exercises helps you build a habit that will give you time to focus on your most important patient: yourself.
Headspace coaches you to improve on specified needs and while it may take a few days to get into the habit of it, once you get in the rhythm you’ll find that every day is made better by a few minutes of meditation.
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
8. Pocket: Manage Reading Lists
As a doctor, you’re constantly reading and learning new information — whether it’s a scientific article, a news piece, or a blog post with interesting content. But you’re so busy throughout your day that you may not have enough time to read as much as you want.
Pocket allows you to save any article that catches your eye in one place so that when you do have time to do a bit of reading, all of your articles are stored in one place. You can even read your articles offline, so no need to worry about being connected to the network if you decide to read during a wifi-less commute.
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
9. HabitBull: Daily Goal Tracker
We’re always in the habit of wanting to break or build up a habit. Whether you want to start sleeping earlier every day or want to build a 30 minute workout in your schedule, a habit tracking app is one of the best ways to get yourself on track.
HabitBull encourages you to achieve your daily goals by allowing you to mark off successful days and showing you trends of days you’ve achieved your goals. You can visibly see the amount of progress you’ve made and where you can continue to improve. There are also graphs to help you visualize your progress so that you can strive for a constantly upward trend.
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
10. Robinhood: Invest for Free.
One of the best methods of passive income for doctors is investing. Whether it’s stocks, ETFs, or cryptocurrencies, Robinhood allows you to choose what you want to buy and charges no fee.
The easy-to-use interface shows the overall trend of the stock and the current buying price to give you a general sense for whether or not it’s a good stock to buy. It will also help you keep track of how much you’re gaining or losing on each stock to help inform when it’s time to sell.
Download here: Apple Store | Android Google Play Store
There you have it! We’ve listed 10 of the best medical and non-medical smartphone apps for doctors to help you decide what apps you should use your highly coveted storage space on.
We hope that you find some of these apps useful or have gotten inspired to search for other apps in the app store that fit your needs!
And while you’re in the mood for searching, click here to start another job search on Nomad! We’re constantly updating the search function on the platform and adding new jobs every day — so check back to see if there are new jobs that fit your preferences!
Happy searching!
The Nomad Team
nomadhealth.com
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